Garage equipment



Jan. 30, 1951' STELMACK 2,539,707

GARAGE EQUIPMENT Filed Nov. 7, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 Fig. I.

Inventor Frank M. SfeImack /l ,1 r I Attorneys J 1951 F. M. STELMACK 2,539,707

GARAGE EQUIPMENT Filed Nov. '7, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor Frank M. Ste/mack f Patented Jan. 30, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,539,707 GARAGE E UIPMENT Frank M. Stelmack, Dunkirk, N. Y.

Application November 7, 1946, Serial No. 708,351 1 Claim. (01. 29-289) This invention relates generally to garage equipment, and more particularly to a stand adapted for the sup-port of a head of an overhead valve plate engine, with means for removin the valves and means to expose the face of said head for a valve refacing operation.

It is understood that devices of this general character have been invented and used prior to this application and it is not, therefore, desired to claim such construction broadly, but what is sought to be protected by Letters Patent is the improvement in the mechanical structure rendering the device more fully capable of performing the work for which it is designed, which improvements make the device more convenient to use than such other structures.

An object of this invention is, therefore, to provide such a device in a form facilitating the attachment of the head in the device in a revolvably reversible cradle allowing the exposure of the valve seats for refacing thereof, without removal of the head from the cradle.

Another object of this invention is to provide such a device with simple valve holding means, units of which are selectively insertible into the device for use with various types of engine heads.

Another object of this invention is to simplify the construction so that the device will not readily get out of order, and that any repairs required may be readily accomplished.

With these and other objects in view as shall appear hereinafter, this invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter described in detail and particularly set forth in the appended claim, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which form a material part of this application, and in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of this invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of this invention, with the valve supporting plate in the operative position assumed when a head is secured in the cradle and the valves are being removed;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of this invention with the head of an engine being shown, in dash lines, in position allowing the removal of the valves therefrom;

Figure 4 is a view, in perspective, of the valve holding plate; and,

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic View, of end elevational character, to show how the cradle can be revolved.

Similar characters of reference designate similar or identical parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

As shown in the drawings, this equipment is designed to be of portable or semi-portable character and the stand therefor, preferably mounted on casters, comprises leg portions I0 and cross bracing for these legs indicated at l2 and 14. A

relatively wide side member i6 is provided with,

simple bearings for the rotatively-mounted cradle hereinafter more fully described, and the rear legs are extended upwardly as at I8 to support valveapertured plate 26 located between these boxes and adapted for the removable insertion thereinto of valves.

The cradle referred to above is three sided, as best shown in Figure 2 and is constructed of angle iron, the side members 28 and 30 being integrally secured to the rear member 32, and the side members 28 and 30 have simple journals adapted to be engaged in the above mentioned bearings in the side members l6 of the frame, thus allowing this open front cradle to be turned on a horizontal axis. A drum 34 is secured to one end of one of these journals, as shown best in Figure 1, and a clamping screw 36 is threadably engaged in a laterally extending flange 38, to allow the disengageable clamping of the drum thereby locking the cradle against rotation. The front side 40 of. the cradle is made removable and. may be constructed of angle iron with two offset bracket members 42 at the ends and on the underside thereof and equipped with thumb screws 44, to allow the adjustable securement of this front side of the cradle to the side members 28 and 30 of the cradle. The front side 40 of this cradle is also equipped with small bracket members 46 corresponding in size and arranged opposite to similar bracket members 48 secured to the rear side of the cradle, as indicated in Figures 1 and 3, for the purpose hereinafter specified. A flange member 50 is secured to the front portion of this front side 40 of the cradle and a similar flange 52 is secured to the rear side of the rear side of the cradle and these flanges are adapted to threadably engage the bolts 54 and 56 which are headed and adapted to be used as thumb screws to move the clamping members 58 and 6B into clamping engagement with an engine head generally indicated by the numeral 52 in Figure 3, these clamping members co-acting with the front side 40 of the cradle and the rear side 32 of the cradle to hold said engine head securely in the cradle with a face thereof downwardly disposed.

'The brackets 66 and 4B are adapted to hold the ends of cross bars 64, which in turn support the plate 66 on the underside of the cradle, and it should be noted that this plate 66 is easily removable by exerting a twisting action on the cross bars 64 removing these cross bars from the brackets 46 and 68, thus freeing the plate 65. The plate 66 is hereinafter referred to as the valve supporting plate and is equipped with :a plurality of regularly spaced projections or pins 68 of a length required to extend through the open space of the cradle and also through the combustion chambers in the engine head '62 to contact the valve heads of the overhead valves in said engine head 62, these valve not being Referring now to the valve depressing means generally indicated by the numeral 29 in Figure 3, it will be noted that the extending portions I8 of the frame are equipped with a pair of bearings 10 in which are journaled the ends of the square section bar 12, the journals of this bar 12 extending outwardly. and terminally secured to a pair of levers M which, in turn, carry the lateral link members T6. A treadle bar 1'8 extends across the lower portion of the device and is pivoted as at B9 on the rear legs of the stand, the link members '18 being pivotally secured to the "side arm portions 82 of the treadle 18. A helical spring 84 is secured under tension between the lower ends of the links 79 and the cross brace l2 so as to urge the treadle bar 18 upwardly and thus urge the valve depressing means 20 4 her to contact the valve springs at the top thereof depressing "the same and freeing the valve keys for the removal thereof and the removal of the springs which may be then placed in the boxes 22 and 24 provided for the convenient storing of the same. When the valve springs have all been removed, the thumb screw 36 may be loosened and the cradle turned through 180 degrees so that the face is now upwardly disposed. The cradle is now locked and the cross bars 64 removed from the brackets 46 by a simple twisting movement thereof freeing the ends of the cross bars from these brackets and the plate 66 is removed so that the face of the head is now exposed in convenient position for the grinding and refacing of the valves and valve seats in the head, the valves when removed being placed for into inoperative position. A slide block 85 with asquare hole therein adapting this block to be mounted on the square bar '12 has a second aperture '88, this aperture being disposed at right angles with the bar 12 and adapted to receive the shank portion of the valve depressing member 93, the end of which is bifurcated as at 92, the valve depressing member being held in place by the thumb screw 94 which is loosened to allow the shank 99 to be moved inwardly and outwardly through the block 86, which block is, of course, slidably adjustable along the major portion of the bar 12.

With the foregoing description of the structural details of this device in view, the method of operation of this invention can now be well understood. With the front side 99 of the cradle removed, an engine head of overhead valve type may be placed face down in the cradle. The

front side 40 is then secured on the cradle by means of the brackets 92 and the thumb screws 44, to clamp said engine head 62 securely between the rear plate or side 32 and the front side 4!], the clamps 58 and 60 then being screwed down by means of the bolts 54 and 56 to hold the said engine head from movement in a vertical direction. While this operation is being done, the cradle is clamped firmly in horizontal position by the thumb screw 39 screwed down tightly on the drum 39. The valve supporting plate (56 is then secured to the bottom side of the cradle by means of the cross bars 34 being inserted in the position indicated in Figure 3 with the ends thereof held in the brackets 96. If desired, the cradle with the head secured therein may be turned through 189 degrees to facilitate this operation. When the plate 66 is in this position the pin 68 will pass through the open face of the cradle and through the combustion chambers in the head of the engine and contact valve heads in seated position. It will be understood that when this device is used for several different types of engine heads a similar number of plates 66 with the pins .69 properly proportioned and positioned thereon will be required. If the cradle has been turned for the application of the plate 66 it must now be reversed back to the position shown in Figure 3 to enable the valve depressing means 29 to be applied selectively to the valves. The block 86 is. moved along the square bar l2 and the shank 99 of the bifurcated valve depressor is, moved outwardly or inwardly in the block toselec tivelyalign.the.bifurcated end 92 so that depression 'of the tread1e'l8 will cause this'mem convenience in the ap'ertured plate 26. When this operation is completed, the reassembly of the head is accomplished by replacing the valves, applying the valve supporting plate 66 as described above, unlocking the cradle and reversing the same back into position shown in Figure 3, and again using the valve depressing means 29 to facilitate the reassembly of the valves in the head.

The advantages of this device over other existing devices of this character will be obvious from a consideration of the foregoing description of the mechanical structure of the same and the method of operation and it will be evident that the objects hereinbefore referred to have been fully and amply achieved.

Though there has been shown a particular embodiment of this invention, this application is not limited to this particular embodiment but it is desired to include in the scope of this invention the construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as set forth in the appended claim.

Having thus described this invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In equipment for repairing cylinder head valves, a frame having opposed bearings, a rectangular cradle having an open bottom and having journals on the ends of the cradle secured in said bearings on said frame, a drum on the outer end of one journal, a screw for optionally securing said drum and cradle against rotation with respect to said frame, clamps to clamp an engine head in said cradle with the engine block contacting face thereof towards said cradle, valve supporting means removably secured to the underside of said cradle, and means for removably and adjustably securing one of the sides of said cradle to its remaining sides adapting it to abut and clamp said engine head in said cradle against an opposed side.

FRANK M. STELMACK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,559,453 Pritner et a1 Oct. 27, 1925 1,697,921 Krogman Jan. 8, 1929 1,734,122 Glaspy Nov. 5, 1929 1,834,299 Spahn Dec. 1, 1931 1,849,538 Bernitz Mar. 15, 1932 2,056,329 Prosser Oct. 6, 1936 2,173,398 1 Michener et al. Sept. 19, 1939 2,311,668 Kennedy Feb. 23, 1943 

